The International Association of Democratic Lawyers, (IADL) a worldwide NGO of progressive law professionals with consultative status at ECOSOC in the UN, reaffirms its support to the Palestinian people and their legitimate struggle against occupation, aggression, apartheid policies and continuous violations of the rights of the Palestinian people.
IADL considers that the Palestinian people have the right to resist by all means at their disposal, including armed resistance, against the occupation.
The United States and the European Union have condemned the actions undertaken by Hamas fighters maintaining a complicit silence about the context of the recent acts of resistance. In order to understand and correctly assess the actions undertaken by Palestinian fighters it is absolutely necessary to understand that these are reactions to numerous violations of international law Israel has committed for decades from which they have benefitting from complete impunity:
- The blockade imposed upon on Gaza which amounts under international law to a crime of aggression
- The continuous occupation by Israel of Palestine including Gaza;
- The colonization policies which amounts to a war crime under the Geneva Conventions
- The apartheid regime imposed by Israel upon the Palestinian population. Apartheid is considered by international law as a crime against humanity.
- All the daily violations of the Palestinian people, mass administrative imprisonment without due process including of children and anyone suspected of hostility to Israel.
The present Israeli government, in which fascist parties play a key role, has intensified criminal activities against the Palestinian population since it took office. More than 200 Palestinians have lost their lives as a result of this since the beginning of 2023.
The violations of international law, including war crimes, crimes of aggression and crimes against humanity committed by Israel justify the resistance, including armed resistance, of the Palestinian people against occupation and oppression.
IADL joins the appeal signed by its affiliate, Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) together with two other leading Palestinian Human Rights organizations AL Haq and Al Mezan to the international community requesting the international community take immediate action to stop Israel’s reprisals against Palestinian civilians.
These three Palestinian human rights organizations emphasize in their statement that the root causes of the conflict, occupation, settler colonialism, apartheid and continuous denial of the right to self determination of the Palestinian people- have to be addressed.
They furthermore denounce the deliberate Israeli retaliatory attacks on the civilian population in Gaza as a “practice routinely employed by the Israeli military in Gaza, Jenin and throughout the Palestinian occupied territory.” They refer to attacks on houses of civilians and on ambulances they have documented. They also refer to statements by Israeli cabinet ministers and by Prime Minister Netanyahu himself threatening the civilian population in Gaza.
IADL joins the appeal of the three leading human rights organizations that the UN Security Council and all UN member states take immediate action with all necessary means to stop this criminal action by Israel and to impose sanctions and an arms embargo upon the Israeli State.
IADL therefore calls upon the people of the world to express their solidarity with the Palestinian resistance and to call upon their authorities and if necessary to pressure them to end impunity, to hold Israel accountable for its violations of international law i.a. by
- Imposing sanctions on Israel as it was imposed previously upon the South African apartheid regime. If the international community through the UN security council fails to do so IADL will continue to work with other NGO’s to organize a world wide campaign to organize a boycott of Israel as it was done previously against the South African Apartheid regime.
- Imposing an immediate and complete weapons embargo on Israel.
- Swiftly using all available legal mechanisms, including the ICC but also national jurisdictions under the principle of universal jurisdiction, to hold Israeli leaders and military accountable for the international crimes committed against the Palestinian people.
IADL reassures its complete solidarity with the Palestinian people. IADL calls upon all peace- and justice loving people in the world to stand up in solidarity with the Palestinian people and their right for self determination and against occupation, to face and confront the forces in the world that are complicit with the crimes committed by Israel and thereby organize impunity for said crimes. The people of the world played an essential role in bringing down the apartheid regime and its supporters mainly in the US and Europe. The same task lies ahead of us to support the Palestinian people until Palestine is free.